Disney Interactive, in association with its LucasArts division and Area 52, today announced that ‘Star Wars: Attack Squadron’ is now in closed beta testing and accepting applications at StarWarsAttackSquadrons.com. According to the announcement, ‘Star Wars: Attack Squadrons’ is a ‘free-to-play online space combat game where players customize iconic Star Wars ships and engage in high-velocity 16 player dogfights in fabled Star Wars locations.’

Gazillion Entertainment, a leading developer, publisher and operator of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games for wide audiences, today unveiled the first glimpse of the eagerly anticipated Super Hero Squad Online. For the first time, players worldwide will have the chance to be their favorite Super Heroes in a living online world.Based on the Super Hero Squad intellectual property that has spawned a wildly popular action figure line and smash-hit animated series, the game draws upon the 5,000-plus iconic heroes and villains in the Marvel Universe. Super Hero Squad Online offers players the chance to team up with friends as they engage in exhilarating combat, show off their decked-out squad in the game’s social spaces, collect thousands of items, and explore interactive environments based on classic and new Marvel worlds.

Club Penguin and its millions of animated penguin inhabitants are going green. On April 22, 2010, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the popular children’s virtual world will launch a special online party and new ways for its players to exercise their passion for making the world a better place.

“Our players constantly ask for ways they can improve the virtual world of Club Penguin and the world at large, and we like to encourage that spirit of global citizenship and giving back,” says Lane Merrifield, co-founder of Club Penguin and executive vice president of Disney Online Studios. “Children today are far more environmentally aware than ever before and they truly want to make a difference. It’s important that their experiences on Club Penguin reflect and reinforce those ideals.”

Earlier today I had the opportunity to visit Disney Online at the International Toy Fair in New York City and got a preview at Disney’s newest massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, The World of Cars in addition to some of the new and not-yet-released enhancements to Disney Online’s other worlds.

Sharing a lot in common with the Club Penguin model, the World of Cars is completely Adobe Flash-based. This means there are no downloads required aside from the common plug-in that most folks should already have. Although I probably should know better than to be impressed to how the game has been implemented inside the Flash engine, I still am. The game looks very appealing with a great heads-up display (HUD) loaded with information and controls while still leaving plenty of room for the actual gameplay.

As you might imagine, you will assume the role of a car in Radiator Springs. The action in the game takes place after the first movie — Lightning returns to the sleepy town after winning the Piston Cup and has set up shop in the middle of Downtown Radiator Springs. Throughout the game, you’ll encounter all of your favorite characters from the film with all new original dialogue as recorded by the original actors with exception to Owen Wilson (Lightning), Paul Newman (Doc Hudson) and George Carlin (Fillmore), the latter two having passed away prior to the studio work. For those three, Disney has brought in soundalikes who do a really good job at filling in some rather large tires.

Meeting the characters, who are non-player characters (NPCs), meaning they’re automatic and interaction is quite limited, you’ll often find a yellow exclamation point over their heads. This means they want to talk to you and might even have a job for you. Performing jobs for the characters will yield you rewards, often being money and additional jobs.